Cannabis dispensary. Photo: Flickr/Beverly Yuen Thompson

LOS ANGELES (CN) — With Los Angeles set to regulate the legal sale of marijuana next year, the city Planning Commission on Sept. 14 unanimously supported a proposal that limits where and how cannabis stores can operate.
Under the draft regulations, cannabis retailers will have to operate at least 800 feet away from “sensitive sites,” which include schools, day care centers, libraries, parks, and addiction and treatment centers, and 800 feet from each other.
Voters in March approved Measure M, to tax and regulate marijuana, after California approved Proposition 64 in the November 2016 general election, legalizing the sale of cannabis for adult recreational use.
Among other things, the proposed Commercial Cannabis Location Restriction Ordinance requires a state license and city approval for the commercial sale of marijuana. It also earmarks zones where cannabis businesses will be allowed to operate.
Some people at the meeting at City Hall objected to the 800-foot limit, saying that such restrictions would cause people to queue up at the permitted stores, disrupting the neighborhood.
But Planning Commissioner Renee Dake Wilson said the city should take a conservative approach as it enters the brave new world of legal pot shops, and reconvene within two years to take a look at how the ordinance is being enforced.
“I want to start out with a more conservative measure and go up rather than start less conservatively and get more strict,” Wilson said. “I think that’s going to be a lot more difficult.”
The proposal will go to the full City Council.Courthouse News Service.